Current materials do not provide adequate ventilation protection against select chemical agents, toxic industrial compounds, toxic industrial materials, and other harmful volatile organic compounds. These chemicals have very low physical exposure limits yet are difficult to capture and retain in personal or collective filtration devices. This lack of performance leads to large, heavy respirator mask canisters that impede war fighter and emergency responder performance and field of view. Furthermore, the large mass and volume of current material required leads to a large pressure drop across the bed resulting in labored breathing in order to pull sufficient air through the mask tor respiration.
A need therefore exists for an improved adsorbent material in personal protection equipment to irreversibly adsorb targeted gases from the environment.